Exilové sítě: komunikace Přemysla Pittra a Františka Váni

• Authors: Jaroslav Miller

Title variants

EN

Exile Networks: communication of Přemysl Pitter and František Váňa

• Languages of publication: CS

Abstracts

EN

By providing the genuinely new „networked“ understanding of exile, this study aims to rewrite significantly the story of Czechoslovak political emigration and re-assess its functioning mostly by means of a tool so far ignored in this field: The Social Network Analysis. According to the dominant historiographical narrative, the Czechoslovak exile followed mostly political goals and was structured as an hierarchy with the Council of Free Czechoslovakia being the supreme body initially respected by most (though not by all) fractions within the exile movement across the globe. That is why the historical research, rather one-sidedly, focused upon the institutional history, biographies of political leaders and ideological debate within political parties in exile. The study argues that the traditional approach needs a substantial revision. Though initially designed as a state-like hierarchy with pyramidal decision-making procedures (with coordinating power vested in the Council of Free Czechoslovakia) the exile soon transformed itself into a horizontal and rather informal network of loosely interconnected and mutually collaborating units and individuals across the globe. The „network thesis“ is demonstrated upon the model analysis of František Váňa’s and Přemysl Pitter’s communication webs being part of the long-term research of Czechoslovak exile networks, 1948–1989.

Keywords

EN

exile; Přemysl Pitter; František Váňa; communication networks; hierarchical versus horizontal exile structures

Discipline

• HISTORY: HISTORY

• Publisher: Institute of History, Czech Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Český časopis historický (The Czech Historical Review)
• Year: 2022
• Volume: 120
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 125-156
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Jaroslav Miller

• Český časopis historický, redakce, Historický ústav AV ČR, v.v.i., Prosecká 76, 190 00 Praha 9, Czech Republic